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Representational image via Unsplash

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Google released a unique Doodle to commemorate the fifth round of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Doodle included an inked index finger, which is a commonly known sign of voting in India. The relevance of the voting process and the value of public involvement in the democratic exercise are emphasised by this clever modification of the Google logo on the company's webpage. Users are routed to search results with the most recent information on India's 18th general elections when they click on the Doodle, making it both a symbolic and useful gesture.

The fifth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections spans 49 constituencies across eight states and union territories. These states include Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra. This stage is important since it encompasses a large segment of the population and a wide geographic region, demonstrating the democratic process' broad reach in India.

This phase will see almost 89.5 million eligible voters choose the destiny of 695 candidates. Rahul Gandhi, the head of the Congress, and Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Rajnath Singh, and Piyush Goyal are among the prominent contenders. Their involvement highlights how competitive and high-stakes the elections are, garnering considerable interest from the public and media.

Google Doodles are renowned for their momentary yet profound changes to the Google logo to honour holidays, occasions, accomplishments, and well-known people. These imaginative alterations raise awareness of important historical and cultural turning points on a local and worldwide scale. A demonstration of Google's dedication to acknowledging and advancing democratic principles and civic participation is the 2024 Lok Sabha election Doodle.


Lok Sabha Elections: All about Google's inked index finger doodle

Users are routed to search results with the most recent information on India's 18th general elections when they click on the Doodle, making it both a symbolic and useful gesture.

On July 16, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted Byju's parent company, Think and Learn Pvt Ltd, into the insolvency resolution process following a plea filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)

The embattled edtech company will attempt to settle the matter with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) outside the court, sources close to the development told Moneycontrol.

The tribunal has appointed Pankaj Srivastava as the interim resolution professional, in charge of running the company till the lenders form a committee known as the Committee of Creditors.

"The Interim Resolution Professional shall after collation of all the claims received against Think and Learn Pvt Ltd the Corporate Debtor and the determination of the financial position of the Corporate Debtor constitutes a Committee of Creditors," the order said.

The NCLT also dismissed Byju's request to refer the dispute to arbitration. 

BCCI filed the case on September 8, 2023 and it came up for a hearing on November 28, 2023, when the NCLT issued a notice to Byju’s and sought its response.

According to the November 2023 order, the BCCI claimed that Byju’s had defaulted on a payment of Rs 158 crore. “It is stated that the general notice was issued to Byju’s vide email dated 06.01.2023 and the default amount of Rs 158 crore, excluding TDS as reflected,” the NCLT order from November read.



Byju's crisis: NCLT admits BCCI's plea for insolvency against the edtech firm

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached 100 million followers on X, becoming the most followed world leader on the micro-blogging platform. From the 100 million, 30 million followers were amassed over the last three years itself. 

Prime Minister Modi took to X to share a message on achieving the milestone. He said, "A hundred million on X! Happy to be on this vibrant medium and cherish the discussion, debate, insights, people’s blessings, constructive criticism and more.”

“Looking forward to an equally engaging time in the future as well,” he added. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A hundred million on <a href="https://twitter.com/X?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@X</a>! <br><br>Happy to be on this vibrant medium and cherish the discussion, debate, insights, people’s blessings, constructive criticism and more. <br><br>Looking forward to an equally engaging time in the future as well. <a href="https://t.co/Gcl16wsSM5">pic.twitter.com/Gcl16wsSM5</a></p>&mdash; Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1812482830108426279?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Among other Indian politicians, PM Modi surpasses the rest with a substantially greater following. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has 26.4 million followers, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has 27.5 million, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav has 19.9 million, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has 7.4 million. While other notable politicians like RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav has 6.3 million followers, Tejashwi Yadav has 5.2 million, and NCP Chief Sharad Pawar has 2.9 million.

Globally too, PM Modi has significantly more followers on X that other prominent world leaders. US President Joe Biden has 38.1 million followers, Dubai's HH Sheikh Mohammed has 11.2 million, and Pope Francis has 18.5 million. 

Additionally, when compared to global sports and pop culture icons, PM Modi surpasses even some of the biggest names in the world. Virat Kohli (64.1 million), Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr (63.6 million), and American basketball player LeBron James (52.9 million). Celebrities like Taylor Swift (95.3 million), Lady Gaga (83.1 million), and Kim Kardashian (75.2 million).

PM Modi has a large following across social media. While the number on X is staggering, YouTube and Instagram don’t fall short by any regard. On YouTube, the PM has around 25 million subscribers and on Instagram, he has around 91 million followers. 



PM Narendra Modi amasses 100 million follower on X; Becomes most followed world leader

Haswanth Vadlapudi, 25, a cricket fan from Hyderabad, travelled to New York to attend the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match, held on June 9. Vadlapudi told Storyboard18, "The US visa and the entire planning was a huge hassle. Overall, I spent around Rs 4.5 lakh for the visa, flight tickets, hotel, and match ticket".


Like Vadlapudi, a vast number of people from India travel abroad to watch marquee sports events such as the Wimbledon, the UEFA Champions League, the cricket and football World Cups, the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, etc., every year. Notably, sports tourism is gradually becoming a major driver for the Indian market as several international games played in India, like the 2023 World Cup, attracted tourists from various countries like England, Bangladesh, Australia, and South Africa, thus promoting inbound tourism. 


According to the United Nations data, sports tourism is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.5 percent between 2023-2030 globally, with the sports tourism market projected to reach $1.8 billion by the end of the decade.


Daniel D’Souza, President & Country Head - Holidays, SOTC Travel said that the increased demand for international sports tourism among Indians can be attributed to the rising middle class, an increasing appetite for unique experiences, and a rising HNI / UHNI segment. Aloke Bajpai, Chairman, Managing Director, and Group CEO, ixigo, told Storyboard18, "Over the past few years, we have seen an exponential rise in demand for sports travel. Indians are increasingly traveling, both domestically and internationally, to attend major sporting events like the IPL, the cricket World Cup, and the Olympics. The finals of the T20 World Cup between India and South Africa witnessed enthusiastic participation from Indian fans, with flight searches for Barbados surging by over 100 percent year-on-year."


Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India and Gulf, Tourism Australia, said sports events down under are also a big draw for Indians. "Events like the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, 2024-25, have already signalled a surge in interest from India," Kashikar added. According to Cricket Australia, ticket sales from India in the current calendar year have witnessed a 10x rise as compared to the 2018 and 2019 years for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. "Most of the tickets purchased from India have been for the Boxing Day Test, especially corporate groups traveling from India for Hospitality & Premium Experience products," Cricket Australia added.


<strong>The Olympics</strong>

Now that the T20 Cricket World Cup is over, Indians are preparing to fly to Paris to witness the Summer Olympics starting on July 26. According to the Paris Tourist Office, around 15 million spectators may attend the 17-day event. Just the opening ceremony is expected to have 3,00,000 visitors. 

"In May this year, search data revealed a 30% year-on-year increase in searches by Indian travellers for Paris during the Paris 2024 Olympics. India was also among the top 5 countries in Asia-Pacific searching for flights to Paris between 26 July and 11 August," Santosh Kumar, Country Manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com said. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Indians plan to travel for international sporting events and 70% are keen on travelling for national sporting events this year, Kumar added.


Monish Shah, Founder, and CEO, DreamSetGo, a sports travel firm, said most of his clients are between 35 to 50 years old with high disposable income, as well as some young people from affluent families. DreamSetGo is the official sub-distributor for Paris Olympic hospitality programme this year.


According to Rajeev Kale - President & Country Head, Holidays, MICE, Visa - Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, Indians have demonstrated that they are willing to spend on premium sports events, such as the Olympics, which costs Rs 11 lakh per person for a group of around 50.


<strong>Packages</strong>

Inderjit Singh, an Indian based in Lagos, Nigeria, is getting ready to travel to the Olympics. "I am a sports fan and love travelling to watch games. There is nothing bigger than the Olympics as far as sports are concerned. I was determined to travel to Paris this year," said Singh, and added that his overall package including, visa, flights, tickets to the games, etc., cost him nearly Rs 11 lakh for 14 days. Singh said he approached VUSportX for planning his trip to Paris. VUSportX  designs packages for sports fans within India and abroad, which include hotels, flights, and other allied services.


Nishant Pitti, CEO and Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip said that the average cost of tickets can range from about $50 to $200, depending on the type of seat and the location of the game. The average budget required to attend international sports events can vary from $1,400 to $4,000, depending on the lifestyle of the attendees.


An HNI (high net-worth individual) spends Rs 5 lakh per package on average, while the average corporate client spends around Rs 2.5 lakh per package, and premium packages (such as the Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies) can go up to Rs 10-12 lakh per person, DreamSetGo's Shah told Storyboard18.

Flying Fans: More Indians are travelling for international sports events

Billionaire Nikhil Kamath’s recent podcast 'WTF, Alcohol is a $70B Business in India?’, covered the A to Z of the alcohol business in India. However, it had managed to irk a popular liver specialist Cyriac Abby Philips, known as “The Liver Doc” on social media, who criticised Kamath for glorifying alcohol consumption that can cause strokes, cancer, liver diseases, and even mental health disorders.

Abhishek Khaitan, MD of Radico Khaitan in the podcast said that countries that have banned alcohol have led their economies to shambles. "Drinking alcohol in moderation is very good,” Khaitan said.

Dr. Philips took to X to point out that no safe level of alcohol is good for human health. "No amount of alcohol is safe because it is not just a liver poison, it is systemic poison. It gets to every part of your body. Even single to lowest exposure can wreck your DNA and promote cancer formation," he said.

Speaking about the disclaimer shown throughout the podcast about alcohol consumption being injurious to health, Dr. Philips said, "To claim drinking alcohol in moderation is good, is actually a crime. It is a crime towards humanity, it is not in good faith. It is in good faith to run the business, yes, because the many people who use it occasionally, move on too frequently, and then get dependent or 'routinize' it. These businessmen have nothing to lose - because they have already put up a stupid disclaimer to get away with it - 'drink responsibly’.”

Kamath owns around 1.6-1.7 percent of Radico's stock worth Rs 400 crore. The ‘Liver Doc’ also stated that it's the business people who support drinking alcohol who have the money to afford expensive medical care incase of any diseases caused due to alcohol consumption.

"I treat alcohol use disorder and related acute liver disease, chronic liver failure and acute-on-chronic liver failure (the most devastating of them all with the highest death rate without a timely liver transplantation) on a daily basis," Dr Philips said. "Patients and families struggle to make ends meet for proper healthcare because alcohol use destroys their life savings. And by the time they find the funds to get things going, the patient is already on the ventilator and in multiple organ failure,” he added. 

Nikhil Kamath targeted by 'Liver Doc' for promoting consumption of alcohol in latest podcast episode

In April this year, Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath acquired a significant amount of shares of Ather Energy from Flipkart’s co-founder Sachin Bansal, an existing investor in the company. 

In a social media post Kamath shared recently about the importance on buying local and promoting homegrown brands.   

“Patriotism is a different thing to different people, mine today seems to be to dream of young Indian products and entrepreneurs killing it inside and outside India,” he said. 

Kamath added, “Enough of the foreign franchise is better, clothes, jewellery, food, auto, content, shoes, and just about everything else.” 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Patriotism?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Patriotism</a> is a different thing to different people, mine today seems to be to dream of young Indian products and entrepreneurs killing it inside and outside India. Enough of the foreign franchise is better, clothes, jewellery, food, auto, content, shoes, and just about… <a href="https://t.co/trYDpJnujj">pic.twitter.com/trYDpJnujj</a></p>&mdash; Nikhil Kamath (@nikhilkamathcio) <a href="https://twitter.com/nikhilkamathcio/status/1810230933980848447?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 8, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Talking about why he decided to make an investment in Ather, Kamath shared, “Will pick great products with terrible marketing every time, sales I hope can be solved for easier than product. The reason we made this investment is also this, every ancillary player in this space said #Ather, the product is the best, but they don't know how to sell, conservative, measured, etc.”

"Let us Indians buy more Indian brands, until one day non-Indians buy Indian brands. Every one of us has pluses and minuses, Ather has sh*t marketing but great product,” he said. 

Kamath also shared that he bought an Ather scooter last year at MRP, with no discount because "Tarun (Mehta, CEO of Ather Energy) didn't even give me a discount”.

Speaking about why he chose Ather, Kamath said that his journey with Ather Energy began when he started being bullish on the EV sector sometime last year and found interesting insights. He shared that the Indian EV market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.4 percent to $117.78 billion by 2032.

He shared, “1 in every 2 EVs sold in India is a two wheeler. Additionally, India stands second to China in the sales of electric two wheelers globally. There are 1319 EV startups registered in India.” 

He also spoke about the government’s plan to make 30 percent of all new vehicles sold in India electric and how in 2023,  EV sales in India  have witnessed 47 percent growth. 

Ather responded to Kamath's musings, where the company's CEO Tarun Mehta shared Kamath's post on his Instagram story with the tagline, "Marketing team be like "isko discount hi de dena chahiye tha."

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/2024/07/WhatsApp-Image-2024-07-09-at-5.40.38-PM-2024-07-2527af060d0f76b8351ee7804a4e7086-473x1024.jpeg" alt="" width="473" height="1024" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-36600" />


'Ather has sh*t marketing but great product': Nikhil Kamath on why he invested in Ather Energy

How happy were Indians in June 2024? More happy or less? Interestingly, overall happiness levels have stayed constant and high in June wave at 77%, like the previous month. 

June wave shows that the cities and cohorts most happy were tier1 (88%), east zone(85%), north zone (84%) and west zone (83%) citizens; full time parents and homemakers (83%), 45+ age group (81%), low education citizens (80%), females (79%), SEC A (78%), SEC C (78%), SEC B (77%), males (76%), employed – part time/ full time (78%), tier 2 (76%), 18-30 years (77%) and 31-45 years (76%), high education (74%) among others.

Citizens dwelling in non-metros were happier (80%) vis-à-vis those residing in the metros (71%).

South zone residents continued to be the least happy, at 56%.

These are the findings of the Ipsos IndiaBus Happiness Survey, that is the monthly barometer of happiness of urban Indians. 

Commenting on the findings of the survey, Parijat Chakraborty, Group Service Line Leader, Public Affairs, Corporate Reputation, ESG and CSR said, "Largely, majority of Indians are happy, across cities, cohorts and age groups. For a growing, emerging market like India, it is understandable as people are happy and filled with hope and aspirations and are driven. Monsoons in several parts of the country could have worked as a mood elevator, amplifying happiness; more so after a hot and prolonged summer season. And non metros are seeing a lot of improvement in infrastrucure, with a manageable cost of living, making it conducive for the citizens to lead a comfortable life and be joyful." 

"Full time parents/ homemakers seem the happiest across all cohorts – spending time with children as they have their holidays and family, socializing/ outings and binge watching OTT at home, could be other reasons for their elevated happiness levels," added Chakraborty.        
 
Further, the survey showed, that in the June wave, urban Indians were the happiest about family (77%) (-2%), health (72%) (-2%), friends’ circle (70%) (-2%), economic conditions (66%) (+2%), colleagues/ business associates (68%) (+2%), employment/ work (65%) (=), neighbours (65%) (+1), situation of the country (62%) (-1%), situation of the world 58% (=).  

"Happiness is not just a fleeting feeling. Different aspects of our daily life have a bearing on happiness and it manifests in our relationships, wellbeing, social network, work and other key areas," said Chakraborty.


Happiness levels remain high in June 2024 with 77% citizens claiming to be happy: Ipsos Report

The shutdown of the homegrown microblogging platform Koo has raised several eyebrows over entrepreneurial ventures in consumer tech sectors like social media, edtech etc. Experts believe the inability to build sustainable monetisation models and overcoming high operational costs sank Koo.

Earlier this week, the app which was once touted as a competitor to X (formerly Twitter), shut down its operations, following a series of unsuccessful attempts to sell or merge the platform.

Koo's co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna, took it to LinkedIn to make the announcement. He wrote, "We explored partnerships with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates and media houses but these talks didn't yield the outcome we wanted." 

Radhakrishna stated that most of them didn't want to deal with user-generated content and "the wild nature of a social media company". 

"A couple of them changed priority almost close to signing. While we would've liked to keep the app running, the cost of technology services to keep a social media app running is high and we've had to take this tough decision," he said. 

That was the demise of Koo. 
 
In 2022, Radhakrishna called Elon Musk Koo's Chief Marketing Officer, a hit at the American Billionaire after he purchased Twitter and went at it with a sledgehammer, dismantling old teams and strategies at the US-based microblogging platform. 

“We were rejoicing when our CEO took a direct jab at the now X Chairman, but little did we know that our entire team would be laid off,” said a former employee from Koo’s brand and communications team.

 
Koo raised $4.1 million in its Series A round in February 2021, and just three months later, raised another $31 million led by American investment firm Tiger Global, valuing Koo at $100 million. By June 2022, according to market intelligence data firm Tracxn, Koo had raised over $57 million and reached its peak valuation of $285.5 million.

 
Koo spent almost $16.5 million on advertising and promotions during the 2022 financial year, when its revenue was over $650,000, according to an analysis by local tech media platform Entrackr.

 
<strong>Cost of Operations</strong>

 
Kazim Rizvi, Founding Director of The Dialogue, said, “The shutdown of Koo, which aimed to compete with global social media giant Twitter, can be attributed to severe financial challenges and high operational costs. Despite a 75 percent growth in operating revenue to Rs 14 lakh in FY22, Koo’s expenditure surged over 8X to Rs 202 crore, leading to substantial losses.”

 
Rizvi further said, “High advertising costs, employee benefits, technology expenses, and legal fees significantly strained finances. While the founders could have diversified revenue streams, secured strategic partnerships earlier, and optimised costs to sustain themselves, we must appreciate the testing times they operated in. While brands like HDFC, Amul, and Snapdeal advertised on Koo, the platform’s revenue was insufficient for sustainability.”

 
Around February 2023, Koo terminated the contract with a leading PR and communications agency mid-year after signing the contract in 2022 to cut down on operational costs. “The reason they cited was lack of funds to continue the service, and they chose to continue their PR activities via their internal team,” said a former employee.


<strong>Major Advertisers Stayed Away from Koo</strong>


Kumar Awanish, Chief Growth Officer of Cheil India, said, “The only differentiation in the Koo app was the native language offerings. Otherwise, it was just a microblogging site like Twitter (now X). Advertisers think from the perspective that the content and reach have to be different. The audience base has to be unique for the genre of the content. Then it attracts the advertisers' interest. When compared with the giants such as Meta or X, it was nowhere near, and that was the reason advertisers stayed away.”

 
Awanish elaborated, “I know at least 20-22 major brands who invest heavily in advertising but stayed away from Koo as a platform for advertising. A few companies in the e-commerce space did advertise on Koo, but it was just on a trial and experimental basis for a short period of time. It was mere luck that Koo managed to sustain for such a long period.”

 
Arijit Basu Vice president Growth & Strategy, BC Web Wise said, "While Koo managed to acquire millions of subscribers in a short span of time due to the regional penetration and digital sovereignty, they soon realized that the most important job of a product or brand is not customer acquisition but customer retention which is actually marketing 101."


Basu said, "Koo had the genesis of being a really great and innovative platform but did not attract enough advertisers or subscription models. The lack of a steady revenue stream made it difficult to sustain operations in the long run considering the likes of global giants, so only funding was not enough to sustain."


<strong>Did Bharat Really Want Koo?</strong>

 
Saurabh Parmar, Fractional CMO, said, “Koo's closure is unfortunately one of the simplest ones. It was a product customers never wanted. The entire idea of a microblogging platform for Bharat seems to have been done without any of the decision-makers really asking, 'Does Bharat really want to microblog? And if so, what differentiates Koo from X, the major microblogging platform?'"

 
Elaborating further, Parmar said, “Koo is not a marketing or fundraising failure. They excelled at both - from politicians getting onto it to media stories when the tide was against X (then Twitter), they got a lot of free PR and buzz, and despite having just a few million users, they raised $60 million.”

 
“It’s a business insight failure, and if any lesson is about really understanding India — which can’t be done based on reports and Excel sheets but by living and talking to the real India, which fewer and fewer marketing or business folk do. Also, if you have to keep buying users for a social network instead of word-of-mouth spread, then there is something strategically wrong. A product like Koo is built on PLG marketing (product-led growth) and not performance ads,” Parmar added.

 
<strong>Game of Hope: NaMo didn't join the party</strong>

 
Koo gained prominence in 2021 after several ministers endorsed it amid a row between the Indian government and X, which was then known as Twitter. Hoping that the government would ban X in India, Koo’s persistent efforts to bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on the microblogging platform failed. The microblogging platform faced another blow when Meta launched Threads, which initially gained 100 million users within a week, due to its integration with Instagram.


In 2022, Koo claimed it had an active user base of 9 million, with many users from Nigeria, where Twitter is banned, and Brazil.
 

A senior employee from Koo’s product development team said, “We were constantly told to try and get PM Modi and Home Minister Shah onboard along with their ministers to bank on their popularity and fan base, which failed, but similar developments had also taken place with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. When Koo entered Nigeria, all the ministers and government officials followed suit.”


However, the Koo saga illustrates the precarious balance between innovation and market viability. It also reflects the broader challenges faced by tech start-ups in India. The platform's story highlights the critical need for sustainable business models and a deep understanding of market needs.

A product customers never wanted?: The rise and fall of Koo

Edtech startup Unacademy has laid off 250 employees in a cost-cutting measure, according to a report by CNBC-TV18. 

The report mentioned that the latest round of layoffs has impacted staff across various functions, including marketing, sales, and product.

Citing sources, the CNBC-TV18 report added that around 100 affected employees were fired due to "sales performance-based exits".

The previous round of layoffs happened in March last year in Unacademy when the startup reduced its workforce by nearly 10-12% following a slowdown in its online business growth.

Notably, Unacademy has laid off around 2,000 employees in multiple restructuring exercises in the past two years.

A spokesperson told CNBC-TV18, "To streamline operations and enhance business efficiency, we have recently undergone a restructuring exercise. This was necessary keeping in mind the company's goals and vision for the year, as we focus all our efforts on sustainable growth and profitability. Consequently, some roles have been impacted. While this transition won't be easy, we will be supporting all impacted individuals during this transition".

In FY23, the SoftBank-backed firm's revenue grew by 26.15% to Rs 907 crore from Rs 719 crore in FY22. Unacademy also managed to cut down losses by 39% in FY23.

<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/social-media/byju-raveendran-put-himself-on-a-pedestal-and-stopped-listening-unacademy-ceo-gaurav-munjal-35837.htm">Read more: 'Byju Raveendran put himself on a pedestal and stopped listening': Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal</a>


Unacademy lays off 250 employees in cost-cutting move; marketing and sales teams hit

What is a trend? In the social media world, it’s a topic on which we see multiple innovative posts for a short period of time. The key phrase here being ‘short period’. That’s what makes trends great. They come, they go, and you have fun while they last. This avoids saturation and keeps the audience intrigued. 

What if a trend never left? What if it came, it conquered but now wants to stick around longer? Relevance is oh, so important these days. Well, that would work in case of lifestyle trends, like an easier cooking technique or a simple yet beneficial exercise. 

However, the trend being referred to here isn’t a lifestyle one. It does makes lives easier - of marketers, not the audience. Case in point: CGI advertisements. To put it in a way that’s relatable - CGI ads are those relatives who visit your home but have no intention of leaving despite the many signals. 

Computer-generated imagery or CGI is a quick and simple way for marketers to capture a moment and quickly have an often exaggerated social media post or campaign ready to upload. Today, CGI ads are OOH but not quite. They appear to be out in popular locations or hoardings but are really just on your digital screens. 

Brands today are using the CGI format to market products, services, movies, TV shows, social campaigns and much more. The format is quite popular because they help create life-like visuals that help with relatability. Initially, CGI ads made quite a buzz. They rode the hype cycle and became quite popular. 

WhatsApp’s privacy campaign at The Gateway of India in Mumbai is a great example. The campaign released in August 2023 and was an amazing concept, executed effectively. The campaign did well to grab eyeballs. Similarly, Barbie’s CGI campaign for their doll collection at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was one of the early examples of what a grand spectacle CGI can help create. The Chelsea FC kit reveal with Nike in September 2023, where the jersey was hung over the London Bridge too was a good representation of the capabilities of CGI in advertising. 

Well, we’re now in 2024, a year later and the trend is still going. There’s one important aspect that helps maintain relevance in today’s age, and that is innovation. Unfortunately, the CGI ads category has seen little to no innovation ever since it ‘trended’. 

We see the same concept everywhere. A large product of a brand at a popular location, a product popping out of a billboard, a plane flying with the product suspended. There’s only so much you can do. When does saturation hit? For the audience, really quick. For the marketer, well, clearly not yet. 

A CGI ad would require lesser effort than an elaborate campaign. You get a prominent location at probably no cost, you get as much creative liberty as you want, and not to forget, you save on the massive production costs. It’s relatively a much easier method. Maybe, that’s why the ad fraternity loves it so much as is unwilling to let go. 

CGI ads often walk on a thin line between marketing and possible misinformation. A brand recently released an ad of an Indian cricketer’s statue being erected at New York’s Time’s Square. While in it’s YouTube video, the brand did mention that the statue was a CGI creation, social media users believed it to be the truth. After all, the statue did look real. 

CGI ads do still create buzz, but they have now become monotonous and quite frankly, boring. They’re the shiny new toy that became dull. But is still in use. Saturation is a funny thing and too much of anything is too bad. Repetitiveness creates not only boredom but frustration as well. Which is why trends remain short term. Which is why it is important to know when the time period of a trend has expired. 

A common word in most effective advertising and marketing today is ‘insight’. It’s time brands start collecting insights more effectively on social media trends as well. CGI ads have overstayed their welcome. It is time for the relatives to finally go home.

CGI ads should be done and dusted; Find out why

Gaurav Munjal, the CEO of Unacademy recently shared what he feels were the reasons behind edtech company Biju’s’ downfall. Byju's was once the world's leading edtech unicorn and India's most valuable startup. Until its dramatic fall. 

Munjal, who is the co-founder of edtech firm Unacademy said said, “Byju failed because he didn’t listen to anyone. He put himself on a pedestal and stopped listening. Don’t do that. Never do that.”

Munjal shared some of his learnings on X, positioning Byju’s as an example of what could have been done differently. “Don’t listen to everyone but have people who can give you blunt feedback,” he said. 

Sharing his learnings before arriving on Byju’s, the CEO emphasised on the importance of understanding the business’s unit economics on day one itself. He shared that it’s the best thing one can do. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Byju failed because he didn’t listen to anyone. He put himself on a pedestal and stopped listening. Don’t do that. Never do that. Don’t listen to everyone but have people who can give you blunt feedback.</p>&mdash; Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) <a href="https://twitter.com/gauravmunjal/status/1806402278427127821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Munjal also shed light on the current investor landscape. "Some Investors are assets, some are liabilities. Trick is to figure out the ones who are assets and listen to them,” he said. 

He elaborated saying that not all investors provide equal value beyond their financial contributions. It is important for a founder to have the ability to take into account the advice given by beneficial investors. This can be the deciding factor of a startup’s success or failure, he said. 

There have been mutiple exits at Byju's over the past few months, from employees, to the CEO and other prominent board members. Additionally, founder Byju Raveendran too recently lost his billionaire status, as it was revealed that his net-worth plummeted from a staggering Rs. 17545 crore to Zero. 


Lok Sabha Elections: All about Google's inked index finger doodle

Users are routed to search results with the most recent information on India's 18th general elections when they click on the Doodle, making it both a symbolic and useful gesture.

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